Open up the "last mile" of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Another IPO is on its way.
Following the disclosure of the listing of the leading domestic automotive lidar manufacturer "Tudatong" in August 2023 in August 2023, Tudatong has recently officially carried out a brand refresh and changed its English name to SEYOND. Tudatong believes that Seyond is a name that is easier to understand on a global scale compared to the original name. Judging from the previous secret submission of the IPO application by Tudatong, this name change may be Tudatong's warm-up for the impact of the U.S. stock IPO.
Following Hesai Technology's successful listing in the United States and winning the crown of "China's No. 1 LiDAR Stock", Suteng Juchuang, which is scheduled to be listed in Hong Kong in January 2024, has also become the "No. 1 LiDAR Stock in Hong Kong". Correspondingly, Tudatong's IPO journey has gradually begun.
Bao Junwei, the founder of Tudatong, is also from Peking University, one of the highest universities in China, like many well-known entrepreneurs in China, such as Robin Li, Yu Minhong of New Oriental, Li Yongxin of Zhonggong Education, and Li Bin of Weilai Automobile.
Gathering is a fire, and scattering is a sky full of stars. Nowadays, with hard science and technology entrepreneurship becoming a new driving force for economic growth, the founders who picked up the bell and hammer have also shown a distinct university school under the tide of transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and the "Peking University Department" occupies a place in it.
On December 27, the 2023 DAMO Academy Young Fellows Award was announced, and 15 young scientists with an average age of only 33 years old who have made cutting-edge breakthroughs in their respective fields were awarded. Among the 15 award-winning young scientists, three are from Peking University, namely Chang Lin, who researches integrated photons, Pang Quanquan, who researches the development and application of sulfur-based secondary batteries, and Qiu Chenguang, who researches moore nanoelectronic devices.
Obviously, a "Peking University Department" corps is directly or indirectly engaged in science and technology innovation, becoming a member of the VC corps of universities that cannot be ignored in the venture capital circle.
01 The venture capital circle ran out of a "Peking University Department".
Peking University has produced many entrepreneurs, which makes me very proud. Wang Qiang, a 1980 alumnus of the Department of Spanish Languages at Peking University, is the co-founder of Zhenge and the co-founder of New Oriental. And Wang Qiang, who has realized the gorgeous transformation from "entrepreneur" to "investor", often thinks about a question, "Why does Peking University produce entrepreneurs?".”
In the former Wang Qiang's view, "Peking University is an academic palace, a triangle of spiritual freedom, a place to end the body, and a place to regenerate the soul." Enterprises, listings, etc. seem to have nothing to do with Peking University. ”
But it is in such a world full of history and literature that many entrepreneurs with their own literary and artistic styles emerged in the early days. Robin Li, majoring in classical literature cataloguing in the Department of Chinese and Library Studies of Peking University, founded itHuang Nubo, an angry poet from Peking University's Chinese Department, became the founder of Zhongkun Group and was widely controversial for his purchase of Icelandic landGong Haiyan from the Chinese Department of Peking University founded Century Love, which is also known as the "No. 1 Matchmaker on the Internet" ......The list goes on and on.
The above-mentioned "first-generation" entrepreneurs who came out of Peking University are just a microcosm of Peking University's entrepreneurial corps.
Since the revision of the Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements in 2015, China has intensively introduced policies and regulations for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. During this period, science and technology innovation has become a "tuyere" sought after by the venture capital circle, and terms such as "new technology", "high technology" and "hard technology" have successively become Internet celebrity terms in the venture capital circle.
As the competent department of science and technology development and technology transfer of the university, the Department of Science and Technology Development of Peking University has made important progress in recent years in the construction of the achievement transformation system, the cooperation of the university's real estate industry-university-research platform, the operation of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, the management of intellectual property rights in the whole process and the cultivation of high-value patents.
Specifically, the Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University has used policy support to revise and formulate the system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and technology shareholding, strengthen risk control and compliance management, and promote the efficient and compliant transformation of scientific and technological achievementsAt the same time, a large number of high-quality patent resources are activated through the combination of patent classification management and big dataIn addition, it has established cooperative relations with leading enterprises in various industries, promoted the docking of patents and market demand, and tapped potential technical cooperation enterprises through a variety of measuresFinally, the Ministry of Science and Technology Development cooperates with local governments to jointly build a scientific and technological innovation system, promote the research results of Peking University, and provide resource guarantee for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The general trend of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, as well as a set of "combination punches" of the Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University, batches of innovative achievements are effectively transformed from "samples" in the laboratory into "products" on the main battlefield of the national economy. The team of the "Peking University Department" legion has also continued to grow.
Recently, Peking University initiated the establishment of an industrialization company in the field of quantum precision measurement, "Guomeizi", recently completed the Pre-A round of financing, jointly invested by Yanyuan Venture Capital, Yuanpei, etc., the first system of transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Peking University, and the funds raised will continue to be used for the research and development and productization of the company's chip-level atomic clock.
The founder of Sinometry is Professor Chen Jingbiao of the Institute of Quantum Electronics of Peking University, relying on the technical advantages of Peking University, a professional engineering and industrialization team has been formed. The company is committed to realizing the complete independence and controllability of domestic high-end instruments, breaking foreign technical barriers, solving the "stuck neck" problem of key devices, and promoting the rapid development of the quantum precision measurement industry, becoming a global leader in the field of time and frequency.
Prior to this, a group of Peking University alumni successfully rang the bell in the secondary market. In April 2022, NOVOSENSE Microelectronics officially landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and its founder, Wang Shengyang, graduated from Peking University with a master's degree in electronic communication engineeringIn August of the same year, Obi Zhongguang, the "first stock of 3D vision", officially landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, and the founder was Huang Yuanhao, who graduated from Peking University with a major in mechanics and engineering scienceIn 2023, WuXi XDC officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the largest pharmaceutical IPO of the year in Hong Kong, and after this battle, WuXi Technologies, founded by Li Ge, an alumnus of the Department of Chemistry of Peking University, has four IPO ......The list is long.
02 Why Peking University?
Towering University, Haohao Peking University. In the venture capital circle, the Peking University Legion is a force to be reckoned with.
But why Peking University?To a large extent, it is because Peking University has made positive progress in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, further emancipating the mind, and vigorously promoting organized scientific and technological innovation and the transformation of achievements. As we all know, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is inseparable from the collaborative efforts of many innovative elements such as teams, technologies, enterprises, markets and financial capital.
As an important platform for scientific and technological research and development, universities have benefited from the advantages of talents and strong research and development capabilities, and have given birth to many enterprises for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, especially in the field of "stuck neck" research has made important contributions. However, at the same time, due to the high investment risk and long investment cycle in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, it is likely to fall in the "first kilometer" of entrepreneurship because of the difficulty of financing.
Therefore, in order to further support Peking University's early major original innovations and promote scientific and technological innovation and the transformation of achievements, Peking University intend to jointly initiate and establish relevant fundraising with other investment institutions as early as 2018.
Back in 2018, Beijing set up a 30 billion yuan Beijing Science and Technology Innovation Initiative. With a global perspective, through policy design and innovative service models, the science and technology innovation has formed a synergy with innovation sources such as universities and institutes at home and abroad, as well as social capital such as venture capital and leading enterprises.
At that time, the Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University was entrusted by Peking University to sign a strategic cooperation intention with Beijing Science and Technology Innovation Management Company to jointly establish Peking University's scientific and technological achievements. After full discussion and deliberation, in June 2019, the plan for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Peking University was deliberated and approved by the president's office meeting of the university, and then the public selection announcement of the management agency was issued to the whole society, and more than 20 domestic management institutions submitted application materials. After open selection, Founder Hesheng Investment Co., Ltd. finally became the manager of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Peking University.
In November 2020, at the Peking University Science and Technology Innovation Conference, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Peking University was officially announced. In January 2021, the successful establishment was completed, and the industrial and commercial registration was "Beijing Yuanpei Science and Technology Innovation Investment Center (Limited Partnership)", referred to as "Yuanpei**" In March of the same year, Yuanpei** completed the compliance filing in the China **Investment Industry Association and began substantive project investment.
It is worth mentioning that the total scale of Yuanpei** is 100.2 billion RMB, **Investment duration up to 12 years. As a patient company, it mainly invests in original innovation stage projects, focuses on high-end "hard technology" fields, focuses on investing in hard technology innovation and applied basic research of high-level scientific research teams, guides the incubation of major scientific and technological achievements with broad market prospects, and is committed to promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and helping the country to improve its innovation capabilities.
The Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University told Rongzhong Finance that up to now, more than 40 investment meetings have been held, more than 40 projects have been considered, and more than 30 projects have been successfully invested and delivered, with an investment amount of more than 800 million yuan. Among them, 68% of the investment projects were returned to Peking University, and 59% were returned to Peking University in terms of investment amount.
Tianyancha data shows that since the first investment in April 2021, the company has successively invested in Defeng Technology, a full-stack solution provider for the industrial Internet, Jinyu Xinneng, a lithium metal battery manufacturer, Qinghang Equipment, a cross-double-rotor unmanned R&D company, Chaomu Technology, a technology R&D platform for eye diseases, a platform-based AIoT SoC chip, a micro-nano core, and a GaN-based third-generation semiconductor company, Zhongboxin, etc., involving industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, biomedicine, advanced manufacturing and other scientific and technological fields.
According to the latest market capitalization, Yuanpei** currently has an IRR of more than 30%, achieving good investment expectations. On September 5, 2023, the first IPO investee company, "Yiming Anke", was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Based on the good experience accumulated by Yuanpei**, in 2023, the Science and Technology Development Department of Peking University will initiate the establishment of Yanyuan Venture Capital by relying on the Shanghai Lingang International Science and Technology Innovation Center of Peking University to solve the problems of the lack of patient capital for the original innovation projects of universities and scientific research institutes, and the lack of cooperation of professional operation teams for scientific research personnel.
Yanyuan Venture Capital focuses on major investment areas such as life sciences, information technology, new energy, and new materials in universities and research institutes, while taking into account other high-quality socialized science and technology innovation projects. Less than half a year after its establishment, Yanyuan Venture Capital has successively invested in two star projects: the national surveyor and the Galaxy General Robot. At present, the company has received a new round of investment from first-line production investment, and the company is expected to become a global leader in the field of time and frequency in the future.
In short, as a top university in China, Peking University is not only able to continue to provide high-end talents and leading technologies to the society, but also is becoming a powerful force in the venture capital circle.
03 College VC Corps, one after another.
At present, the tide of transformation of scientific and technological achievements is coming, and Chinese universities and VCs are getting closer and closer.
In just the past 12 months, two Shanghai 985 schools have accelerated the pace of entering the VC and released new ** in order to open up the "last mile" of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
On December 3, 2023, the launching ceremony of Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Mother** was held. Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Mother** was jointly initiated and established by Fudan University, local governments, state-owned enterprises and market-oriented institutions, with a total scale of 1 billion yuan in the first phase, and made every effort to build an "ecosystem" for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements inside and outside the university. This is also another science and technology innovation mother led by universities after the future industry mother of Shanghai Jiaotong University.
On December 21, the signing ceremony of "Shanghai Jiaotong University Da Zero Bay Science and Technology Innovation**" was held in Da Zero Bay Science and Technology Innovation Building. The science and technology innovation with a total scale of 1 billion yuan will be jointly established by Shanghai State-owned Assets Parent and Shanghai Jiaotong University and other parties, which will focus on the scientific and technological innovation layout of Shanghai Jiaotong University and rely on the functional advantages of "Da Zero Bay" to cultivate a regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecology. At the signing ceremony, representatives of the funders of Shanghai Jiaotong University Da Zero Bay Science and Technology Innovation jointly signed a memorandum of cooperation, and 18 hard science and technology entrepreneurship projects of the "Jiaotong University Department" signed a memorandum of cooperation with the first management.
Moreover, according to the official disclosure of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Jiaotong University has cooperated with another large state-owned investment platform to focus on the direct investment of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the school, with a total scale of 2 billion yuan, and the establishment has entered the final stage and will be officially launched soon.
Coincidentally, at the end of October 2023, the inaugural meeting of the Central South University Alumni Entrepreneurs Association was held in Changsha. On the same day, the first alumni venture capital in Hunan Province, "Zhongnan Alumni Huixiang**", was launched on the spot, and the ** program plans to raise 2 billion yuan to provide financial support for the innovation and entrepreneurship of teachers, students and alumni of Central South University.
Also in October 2023, Tianjin University officially released Tianda Beiyang Begonia New Energy and New Materials Venture Capital**, it is reported that the first phase of the establishment of the first phase is 500 million yuan, through a completely market-oriented management method, investment in new energy and new material enterprises with high growth potential, will further form advantageous disciplines and complementary resources, and promote industrial agglomeration;Nankai University, which is also Tianjin 985, also released Xinkaihu** in the same month, which is an equity investment led by Nankai alumni entrepreneurs Zhang Wenzhong, Zhou Haibing, Wen Biao and SMIC Juyuan**, aiming to explore the talent advantages of Nankai University and the resource advantages of Nankai alumni.
The above is only a case of colleges and universities doing VC in just three months from October 2023 to the present, and if you stretch the timeline, it is not difficult to find that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the college VC corps.
According to incomplete statistics from Rongzhong Finance and Economics, in February 2023, it was raised and established by a wholly-owned enterprise of SUSTech Asset Company, and it was the first university rotor of Shenzhen Angel Mother** "Nanke Wutong Angel**" was successfully established and started operation, with a target scale of 1200 million yuan;In October 2022, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China participated in the initiation of the alumni ** "Chengdian Bang**" with a scale of 1 billion yuanIn July 2022, Xia Wei, an alumnus of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, donated 100 million yuan to set up the "Beihang Science and Technology Innovation Mother", and many universities in China, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, University of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University, and Westlake University, have set up equity investments**.
Venture capital in colleges and universities is gradually active, which is the epitome of the era of scientific and technological innovation, and it is also one of the effective ways to improve the "transformation of scientific and technological achievements". For a long time, how to translate the scientific research results of universities into practical applications has always been a difficult problem, and many scientists in the laboratory have cutting-edge scientific research results, but do not know how to put them on the market "shelf", often leaving the scientific research results on the shelf.
At the same time, the investment style of the primary market is changing to "invest early, invest small, and invest in technology". Nowadays, in order to grasp the first-hand transformation information earlier, it has become a common phenomenon for VCs to rush to visit university professors.
In the foreseeable future, the emergence of university VCs on the Chinese venture capital stage is expected to create a unique "Yale model" in China.